The Health Ministry’s Preventive Health Department yesterday called on the authorities of Soc Trang, Can Tho and Kien Giang provinces to tighten control over H5N1 avian flu outbreaks to prevent a possible spread of the disease, which has killed two people.
After about 20 months with no cases of humans contracting the H5N1 virus reported, two fatalities caused by bird flu have been recorded, including an 18-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman in the Mekong Delta provinces of Kien Giang and Soc Trang.
Meanwhile, another patient is suspected of having contracted the disease in Can Tho, also in the region.
Soc Trang has become the third province in Vietnam to report H5N1 flu outbreaks this year, after Thanh Hoa and Quang Tri provinces, the Department of Animal Health reported.
About 90 chickens in Soc Trang’s My Xuyen District have become ill or have died, and 310 more were destroyed to control the spread of the virus, the department said, adding that it has provided two million doses of the bird flu vaccine to the province in order to curb the recurrence from spreading.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, several other provinces, including Thai Nguyen, Bac Lieu, Hanoi, and Nghe An, have recorded deaths among their poultry suspected of contracting the fatal virus.
On February 3, Thanh Hoa and Quang Tri, both located on Vietnam's north central coast, reported bird flu outbreaks that killed about 200 birds and sickened nearly 1,600. Officials culled more than 3,400 poultry stock in attempts to stamp out the virus.
Veterinary workers vaccinate a chicken against the H5N1 flu virus (Photo: cucchannuoi.gov.vn)
The ministry, which said the bird flu reoccurrence might spread widely, has ordered veterinary departments in all the affected localities to strengthen their control over H5N1 avian flu outbreaks to constrain its spread.
Health experts also warned there is a high likelihood the disease will spread widely in the near future because the H5N1 virus in northern Vietnam has mutated and effective vaccines are not yet available.
Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Preventive Health Department, warned that the H5N1 is very dangerous, since the mortality rate among human H5N1 infections may be 100 percent, despite patients being treated with antiviral medicines.
The H5N1 virus – unlike seasonal influenza viruses – targets human pulmonary endothelium cells, where it induces the inflammation often associated with H5N1 -induced acute respiratory distress syndrome.
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